Closure
by Warlordess
Summary: Finished. Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.
1. Just A Little Lonely

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Title: Closure

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Author: Chibi/Warlordess

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Pre-Author's Notes: I was just remembering the quote from Misty's Leaving eppie (you'll find out which one I mean when you read the first sentence in the chapter) and, since I've really been wanting to do something on this for awhile, and since I know that, after the Togepi's Paradise special, Misty leaves again (DAMN IT!), I wanted to do something simple and sweet with something that every AAMR fan would be looking for upon her return: Romantic closure between her and Ash.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I don't even think I own this idea. I'm just the first person that I know of whose decided to post anything on FFN/anywhere else about it.

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Summary: Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.

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Chapter One: Crushing the Loneliness

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She marched off into the sunset, not looking back as she knew that she'd be seeing him once again, "Well, Ash Ketchum, I finally know how you feel about me..."

Her eyes were glazed over, her expression dazed at the memory. She had missed him a lot, that was true, and seeing him again had made something in her stomach, in her chest, find it's way into her throat whenever she tried to speak to him. And when she looked at him, she somehow had visions of romantic little scenes between them. And when she heard his voice, it made her tremble.

She was an emotional wreck.

She had never remembered it being this bad when she left. She knew she'd been crushing on him ever since Trovita in the Archipelago "Orange League", when, upon remembrance, she realized that she didn't know what she'd do with herself if she were away from him. She supposed that it was a reason to thank Rudi, his question about her staying with him on the island having forced her to come to a decision that she'd been pondering over for so long.

But ever since she'd come back to Cerulean City, ever since she'd realized how long her sisters' trip around the world would take, ever since she'd taken over Gym Leadership and the responsibilities that came along with it and noticed that it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be... Her feelings seemed to have been magnified so much so that she couldn't even hide them from herself, let alone anyone else who asked...

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"Ring, ring, ring! Ring, ring, ring! Phone call! Phone call! Ring, ring, ring! Ring, ring, ring! Phone call! Phone call!" The automated voice system of the videophone chose to knock her from her memorial horse and send her flying to the present and she rushed over to it and picked up the receiver. The Indigo Central Servicing Committee had sent a request for inspection availability almost a week ago and she'd been waiting for a phone call to dictate a certain time, so maybe this was them?

But when she pressed the 'vid-screen ON' button, the face she saw was definitely not one of the official members of The ICSC and, actually, as she squinted, she was positive that it was--

"--Ash--!"

"Hiya, Misty!" His voice made her eyes widen as she recognized him. Obviously the fourth league journey had done a lot for his maturity... Well, not really. But his physical appearance seemed slightly different and she was sure that she could see some very subtle stubble growing along his face. But he was fifteen years old and boys usually hit that level around a year or so earlier...

"Um... Ash! Unbelievable; you actually called me?" She chuckled as he gave a slight frown, making his eyes glow negatively, "Usually I have to check three city Pokemon Centers in order to find you... I guess that miracles do happen!" She saw that he was taking her comments a little personally so she changed the subject, "So... Is there a reason that you've called me?"

"No, in fact you're such a stranger to me at this moment, I must have dialed the wrong number. C'mon, Myst, you're my friend, isn't that reason enough?" Was the reply and now Ash was laughing too, although he was looking a little nervous, it seemed; maybe even apprehensive.

"Yea, I suppose that it would be; that is, if you didn't have a reputation of losing complete contact with someone after you've separated from them." Misty scoffed and continued, "So I'm afraid that I'm going to have to press the subject. Why are you calling me so suddenly? Is, erm, the Hoenn League over yet?" She was embarrassed because she knew the answer to her question all ready. It was.

She'd seen the results of the battle expectations on the League Journeyman Station and, sadly enough, Ash was not on the victory list. Yet again, he'd fallen from the heights of Pokemon Master to Regular Pokemon Trainer and Traveler. She supposed that that wasn't why she was embarrassed, though. Upon asking that question, she'd just given the impression that she hadn't cared enough about him to watch the competition.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Ash cleared his throat and seemed to come to a certain decision before bowling on into something that was under a completely different topic , "Uh, hey Misty... Do you think that I can come to the Gym and stay there a few days?" This question left Misty feeling plenty of scattered emotions and, for some reason that she was unsure of, pleasure wasn't exactly one of them.

She was glad that Ash would want to visit her but, well, this was sort of sudden for one thing, and it was almost too much to think that his mother wouldn't want to see or hear from him first.

"Er... Why would you want or need to stay here at the Gym, Ash?" It was at this point that he gave one of his sheepish "Heh"'s that almost always meant he'd done something wrong and Misty's eyes narrowed knowingly, "What did you do, Ash?" Her voice was now no longer confused or hopeful or in any way positive. Quite to the contrary, she seemed to be holding back the urge to strangle him through the screen.

"'Do'..? I didn't 'do' anything, Misty..." He broke off there and then apprehensively continued, turning scarlet, "... Except maybe confuse a ferry schedule or two..." He gave a nervous cough and went on, "I-I mean, it was really confusing! There was the blue route and then there was the yellow route and then the red and violet! And they all went to different places and the map with the color-coded arrows was really jumbled up and I ended up getting on the boat to Cerulean Bay instead of the one to Pallet Port..."

"Ash, we've taken the ferry a million times! How could you possibly mess it up? And why don't you just stay the night in the Center and then take the next ferry in a couple of days? They run more than just once a month, in case you don't remember..." She muttered, no longer very happy to hear from him, "Or maybe, you know, you could start walking now..."

"Well, see, about that. There's been a few problems along the way. You see, I was going to buy another ticket for Thursday's ferry to Pallet but the guy said that they'd closed down the harbors all over Kanto for the rest of the week because we're supposed to have fierce storms and negative weather patterns through next Monday." It was obvious that he was quoting because Ash could never speak so smartly, "And, for the same reasons, I wouldn't really wanna risk walking... And the Center was all ready full of other travelers and trainers when I got there so there's no room. Actually, that's where I am now and..." His face moved out of the way and cleared the view so that Misty could take notice of about thirty sleeping bags on the Waiting Room floor, "...As you can see, not much room for another person..."

"Well... Then..." Misty spluttered, trying to think of another excuse. She didn't really wanna sleep in the Gym with Ash, believe it or not. It could lead to all sorts of possibilities and now that she was finding it so much harder to avoid her feelings for him, it would be a really stupid thing to do, inviting him to stay the rest of the week just so she could give him plenty of chances to guess what was up with her, "Then take your own sleeping bag and sleep outside! You're a trainer; you can take it!"

"Misty, have you listened to anything I've just said? The guy says that the weather's supposed to be REALLY bad. Do you actually wanna risk me drowning out there and then have to deal with the guilt, not to mention the charges pressed by my mom because you let me die?" Ash was turning slightly red with embarrassment again, "Besides, I, er, forgot my sleeping bag on the boat and it's all ready left again."

"Well, you're just spouting holes on all sides, aren't you?" Misty stated, sighing exasperatedly. She couldn't help it. She didn't want him to drown, she didn't want to get sent to Juvenile Hall for 'Inhumanity', and she didn't want to feel guilty about him sleeping out in that weather anyhow when she had the nice, warm, comfy Gym waiting right down the road, "Oh..." She moaned, "...Fine, Ash. You're welcome to stay here." A smile instantly appeared on his formerly shying and desperate face, "Just don't expect me not to give you some type of work while you're here! I'm not gonna be any cheaper than the Center!" Immediately, his smile was gone but she'd all ready hung up on him.

She turned her back on the vid-phone, almost daring it to ring again. When it didn't, she sighed and made due with playing with the hem of her shirt.

Things were just not going her way this week...

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Post-Author's Notes: Well, there's the first chapter. I was actually planning on making this a one-shot at first but, I dunno, it just seemed better to draw it out a bit and make things funnier and more suspenseful. I know you've seen a million fics like this out there, especially for AAMR, but since there's hardly any plotline out there that's still new, I had to give this a shot.

Don't worry, I'll try and make things as cute and AAMR-ish as possible. Also, I'll be taking requests for anyone who wants to see something happen between the two. Hmm, maybe an accidentally-peeking-into-the-shower-when-it's-occupied scene..?

--Chibi/Warlordess signing off!


	2. Ketching Up

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Title: Closure

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Author: Chibi/Warlordess

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Pre-Author's Notes: Thanks so much to those who reviewed the first chapter! Really, I'm glad that some of you remembered that I'm the same author of the recent big-fic 'Miss Discovery!' and liked it enough to check out this piece, as most of my past reviewers promised to do. I wanna let all of the readers know now that I don't plan on bringing in any of the other characters. I plan to act like May and Max are both dead, Brock's returned home and met some splendid surprise with long blue hair, fair skin, and a Vulpix, Tracey's caught up with Professor Oak at the lab, Mrs. Ketchum is away on vacation, and Gary is somewhere in the middle of Ilex forest, rediscovering his travels there without a Hoot Hoot, completely and hopelessly lost. I might bring in some Pika-matchmaking but that's only if I'm in the mood for translation services, which REALLY get on my nerves a lot of the time so...

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Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I don't even think I own this idea. I'm just the first person that I know of whose decided to post anything on FFN/anywhere else about it.

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Summary: Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.

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Chapter Two: Ketching Up (pun intended)

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Ash Ketchum was whistling almost gleefully as he steadily skipped (yes, skipped; don't ask me why) down the main streets of Cerulean on his way to Misty's Gym. He had no particular reason to be happy, considering that he was to be put to labor work and that his next week would be spent with his overly-aggressive, carrot-topped friend with absolutely no supervision and so he was actually asking himself at this time why exactly he felt like laughing all of his personal troubles off.

But then again, there was this feeling in the air. Something other than the musty, stale warning of rain approaching around him that he couldn't identify. But somehow, it made him feel that something good was going to happen. He just wished that he knew what...

He was currently standing still in front of the Seel-trimmed Cerulean City Gym. There was no valley-girl voice rising over the intercom to detail a water ballet being played that day, and the ticket booth that had been permanently erected in front of the main entrance stood tall and lonesome as there was no one behind or in front of it.

Actually, as Ash would soon realize upon entering the Gym, he was Misty's only guest and the only one bothering to visit her that day. She got the rare Trainer, maybe a total amount of ten a week, but today was obviously one of her less popular days. Ash barely had time to wonder whether or not Misty had lost her temper on them all and scared them away when the front doors opened and an automated voice spoke from around him.

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"Welcome, Trainer, to Cerulean City Gym. Please select three Pokemon at this time, as we will be sponsoring three-on-three Pokemon battles today, and approach the main desk with you final choices. There you will be offered your available battle time. Thank you!" The chirpy female tone ended with a little ding and Ash stepped through the doors, off-handedly thinking of whether or not he should actually start gathering which three Pokemon he'd like to battle with before coming to the conclusion that he wasn't there for a battle in the first place. He also realized that the computer-trainer-handling system was new as well.

"Finally; I was wondering if you'd lost your way." A familiar voice said from behind him and he turned with a light scowl. Misty may have been his friend but her cracks about his sense of direction (or lack of one) and his other less redeeming qualities just got on his nerves. But as he was readying the common come-back, he took notice that she was wearing a yellow poncho and rain boots. He gazed questioningly at her before she replied to his unasked inquiry, "Well, your not getting here as fast as I thought you would worried me and so I was about to go out there and look for you. It all ready looked like it was beginning to rain so I wore the proper clothes."

And she was right. No sooner had he sat down on a chair with his bag in his hand than a single strike of lightning clapped across the sky followed by a rumble of thunder. Ash winced at the sudden sound then turned so that he could say "hello" properly to Misty but she'd disappeared.

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Probably taking off those clothes. He thought reasonably and, sure enough, when she reappeared, she was wearing regular 'inside' attire and an expression of something remotely related to smugness about something that Ash couldn't comprehend at the moment... Not that he was trying very hard.

"So, how are you doing?" He asked her and she smiled almost gratefully, catching that he was honestly curious and caring for her. She sat next to him and stared at the soles of her slippers. It was something he noted about her along with her suddenly less hostile expression.

"I'm doing okay. I've been making a few updates on the Gym so at least it'll pass inspection. I can't make it look the best, obviously; haven't been in the 'business' long enough. But I'm trying my hardest to impress the League Committee so that they don't think that I'm as incapable of Leadership as my sisters. And I've been battling pretty well too. I haven't beaten everyone whose come by but I've managed a positive increase in my average. I'm thinking that, at least by the time my sisters return, I'll have managed to improve our abysmal reputation somewhat. I just wish that they'd stop trying to ruin it in the first place..." Her brow furrowed for a moment at the thought of how much change would, again, be inflicted upon her home once her older siblings had returned from their trip, "But how are you? I'm sorry about... You know... The Hoenn League. I know that you were trying real hard to win that one..."

"What do you mean? I always try hard to win!" Ash stated fiercely, feeling that sting that always hit him hard when his training abilities were reprimanded, "The other competitions were no different than this one! I'm getting really tired of your continually trying to bring me down just because I can't win every battle and--" He broke off when he saw that she was looking angry and upset again and re-thought his words, "--Uhm, I mean, sorry... Yea, I was working real hard and everything; guess people learn lessons everyday. I'm obviously still in need of practice..."

"Well, Ash, you could always come to me. I can help you train pretty well; I am a Gym Leader after all!" She said this proudly, smiling at her title of importance, "And I'm your friend, so you know that you can never go wrong with me." And now she was back to her soft, sweet self, staring, once more, at the soles of her fuzzy slippers.

"Yeah," Ash said with an equally pleased grin, "I know."

"Good. Now that we're done with all of that, you should call your mom and tell her that you're here; at least leave her a message..." She jumped to her feet and left through the side door and then came back a moment later, this time carrying a mop, broom, dustpan, and bucket full of soapy water, "And then you can start on your Room-and-Board-chores!" She was talking in a very chipper tone and Ash sweatdropped and moaned.

It was now clear why she'd been looking so smug before.

"Wah... C'mon Myst!" He said, looking injured, "I just got here and you're all ready handing me a list of things to do? Can't I get a few minutes peace? I mean, I did just come from a week long travel from Hoenn Stadium..!" He complained, watching as her brow rose and then, as though as an after-thought, she interrupted him.

"Hey Ash! You never told me where you sent Pikachu, or is he still with you? Or..." She broke off with a smirk, knowing that her next inquiry would hit him hard, "...Did you leave him on the boat, just like your sleeping bag?" She said and when his face went stiff with shock and worry, she thought for a single moment that she'd been right, before he jumped into his backpack and started mulling his things around.

"I forgot to even tell him that we were staying with you! He was asleep for the last two hours of the sail and through our arrival at the Pokemon Center and I didn't wanna wake him up since he'd had such a hard time at the Hoenn League and hardly any time to recuperate afterward! I let him sleep in here because I thought it'd be more comfy than on the boat deck, the way it was rocking so much..." He took a moment to remember before resuming his action of searching for his little buddy, and then, "Poor guy... He's still out cold..." He began to utter soft awakenings, "C'mon, Pikachu buddy... Wake up... Guess who we're staying with for the rest of the week?"

There was a small "Pika..?" from inside the pack and then some shuffling and two long ears perked over the top, followed by a sleepy looking Pikachu, yawning with his mouth wide open and a few electric pulsations emitting from the red patches on his cheeks.

He rubbed his eyes and, after regaining the will to move, caught sight of Misty and smiled, "Pikachupi!" He chanted and jumped from the backpack and hurriedly into Misty's arms.

"Awe, it's good to see you too, Pikachu! How would you like come ketchup? I'm positive that I have a bottle in the refrigerator and I think that it's safe to say that it's all ready got your name on it." She continued to rub him behind his ears, which he sighed contentedly from, and then walked away and into the kitchen with him in her secure hold, Ash following afterward with a small grin on his face.

He had evaded being properly given the implements for which he'd need to complete his chores and, until she was done paying attention to Pikachu, Misty wouldn't be getting back on his case. Until then he could play stupid (which really wasn't that hard for him) and avoid the subject, "Heh. And now I can get a bit to eat."

"And Ash; you can get started on the mopping. The battle arena's in need of a good cleaning up since I haven't had a chance to do it, myself, since last week." Misty called out to him from the front. Ash stood stark still again.

"Mwah!"

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Post-Author's Notes: Thanks for reading this chapter, my precious fans! Er... At least I hope that you're fans... Anyway, ignoring my low self-esteem, I hope that you liked this chapter because I kinda rushed it's creation. Nevertheless, I tried sticking to the storyline, the character personalities, and the whatever-else-I-was-going-to-put-here. Yea, I was just seduced by a Donut cappuccino commercial on my radio and I've completely forgotten what I was going to say... Erm... I guess I only need to say one more thing to make my motives clear...

REVIEW PLEASE!

--Chibi/Warlordess signing off!


	3. Habitual and Atypical

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Title: Closure

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Author: Chibi/Warlordess

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Pre-Author's Notes: Again, thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter! I'm really happy that a few people like it, since I didn't really think the plot would mold over well considering the probable amount of times it's been used. Still, I'm really happy that you all have chosen to like it so much! So, um, since I'm usually an author/artist of short words and small, incomprehensive brains, I'll just move right along now.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I don't even think I own this idea. I'm just the first person that I know of whose decided to post anything on FFN/anywhere else about it.

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Summary: Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.

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Chapter Three: Habitual and Atypical

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Proving her words true, Misty didn't let Ash have one moments rest all morning long. She helped him somewhat, but mostly oversaw his duties as he swept, mopped, vacuumed, scrubbed, dusted; anything that she'd left undone for the last week at least, he was left to start and finish with while she and Pikachu watched from the sidelines as he rushed past looking unkempt with his hair all over the place worse than ever, his jacket hanging off his shoulders, and an expression that said quite clearly that Misty had better sleep with her eyes open that night.

"C'mon Ash, pick it up a little!" Misty cheered with her fist rising into the air. Pikachu mocked her, too comfortable with his ketchup bottle to worry over the slave work his Master was being given.

"'Pick it up a little'..?" Ash quoted, pausing to catch his breath and looking incredulously at Misty as she watched him with humorously twinkling eyes, "I don't think I'll be able to pick anything up ever again!" He whined, his shoulders and face slack and his arms hanging at his sides like doors busted from their hinges.

Misty looked him over, and she seemed to be thinking about something. She stood up, coming to a decision, slapped one fist into her other hand, and turned to Pikachu.

"Whose ready for lunch?" She asked with a smile.

Ash sighed gratefully, thanking any God listening that he could finally get something in his stomach. He threw his mop and bucket of now-grimy water to the ground, followed after his friends (both human and Pokemon) and sat himself greedily at the table while Misty worked herself over the stove, making something that smelled incredibly good.

There was one thing that he'd forgotten, however, as our little raven-haired trainer sat waiting at the lunch table with thoughts of rice balls and fruit sandwiches and parfaits revolving around his head and that one thing was...

"There we go!" Misty stated ecstatically almost an hour later as she landed a bowl of... Some red watery substance with burnt black things floating around in it... In front of her crush. Wondering vaguely if Misty had accidentally cut her finger and bled into the meal, Ash stared down at it with a sense of fear, "I hope that you like it!"

"Er... W-what is it?" Ash asked cautiously, pointing at it, too paranoid to even touch it because he wasn't sure whether some giant tentacle would come shooting out, trying to devour him. Misty gave him a superior stare, as if she thought that he couldn't recognize a decent (wonderful, in her eyes) meal when he saw one.

"It's homemade shrimp gumbo, you idiot!" She slapped him on the back with an over-eager smile and he was almost forced face-first into the bowl. She sat down and leaned forward, wanting to see him take his first bite and hear some sense of praise from him, "Now c'mon, we still have loads to do around here!"

Wanting nothing more than to tell her off for her lack of cooking skills and her insinuations that she was helping him clean, he picked up his spoon with a trembling hand and placed the smallest of bites into his mouth, remembering how his digestive system had almost done a reversal on him last time he'd had to eat her kitchen-work while Brock had been sick.

As soon as he was able to taste the "shrimp gumbo" on his tongue, he was immediately intent on purging the rest of it and escaping into town to find a more suitable excuse for food. That was until Misty lent in on him and he became fully aware that she was trying to see whether or not he was enjoying the food she'd made especially for him.

"So... How d'you like it?" She asked cautiously as he tried as hard as humanly possible to swallow, "Cause I worked so hard on it to make it perfect. I mean, I actually looked up the recipe and placed all of the ingredients in for the gumbo sauce and then I cooked the shrimp and added them and everything so it would taste good... I tried as hard as I could to make it appetizing for you..."

Ash, awed by how she had put so much work into making his lunch, felt suddenly compelled to fake likeness, and so he finally managed to swallow the first bite and then move on to a larger second. Misty's eyes seemed to brighten after seeing him do so, and he felt something inside of him leap at her happiness. After he'd managed to choke back half of his bowl, he put his spoon down and smiled forcefully at her.

"That was... _Good_... Myst, but I'm full now." And now he was trying his hardest to remember where the bathroom was. His stomach was feeling slightly 'off' at the moment and he knew that if he didn't get out of here and find the resting place soon, he'd be forced to head out back into some bushes to complete his hygienic business.

"Really..? Wow, your appetite must be disappearing as you're getting older." Misty said, looking into the half-empty bowl as he got up to place it in the sink, "Just leave it there; _you _can wash it later." She said, catching his eye and giving an enchanting smile--

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--Whoa, whoa, whoa! "Enchanting"?! Not a word in MY dictionary... Especially when we're talking about HER... I REALLY gotta get to the bathroom. I think she was trying to drug me with that meal... He cleared his throat and looked at the Cerulean Gym Leader with a small grin so as not to let on his inner 'turmoil'.

"Uh, Misty, where's the bathroom? I can't remember cause it's been so long since I was last here." Ash stated, making it look like he had to go. Misty pointed him off in the direction of the upstairs hallway, where the bedrooms and guest rooms were, and he ran off.

"And when you head back down, just come back to the pool area!" She shouted after him, "We still have plenty to do there since we interrupted the cleaning for lunch!" She heard him comply and the slam of a door and then she sat back, picking up Pikachu, who had been attempting to get her attention by stretching his little hands up her leg, and began to scratch him behind the ears, "...I hope that he can remember where the pool area is..."

Ash stared down at the floor with a sense of ill-concealed dislike. He didn't know what was going on but this was getting out of hand. First, for some unknown reason, he had defended his inner feelings towards Misty's "cooking" by thinking about the fact that she'd spent so much time trying to make it. Then he'd actually forced half a bowl of the stuff down his throat to make her think the same thing. And then he'd caught himself thinking of her smile as "enchanting"... He didn't know what was going on here but he didn't like it at all. That had been three absurd actions on his part in one sitting.

Finally getting up and stretching himself before heading out the door, Ash walked down the hallway, catching sight of the names on several of the doors he passed. "Daisy's Room", "Violet's Room", and "Lilly's Room" were inscribed on the first three and then, sure enough, the last one (actually left open, unlike the others) had Misty's territorial markings left on a sign upon the arch.

Glancing up and down the vast hallway, Ash felt pummeled by some invisible wind. He had never known that the Cerulean Gym, Misty's home, was so large. And her living here on her own for over a year now... Ash shook his head, ridding himself of the strange guilt trying to consume him. He shouldn't have to worry about that. Misty could take care of herself for one thing; he was sure that she could handle this place on her own. After all, if she couldn't, she would have turned down her sister's proposal that she come home at once while they were gone, right?

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But it wasn't as if she had a choice... Ash found himself thinking unconsciously. He slapped himself. This was not the time to be worrying about Misty Waterflower. There was **never **a time to worry about Misty Waterflower... _What's that? _Ash thought, for he'd just noticed a certain vibrant red book sitting wide open on Misty's desk. Unbidden, there was a desperate urging, nagging, inside of him that kept shouting that he should look at the contents on the page. Misty wouldn't care much, right..? After all, if it was something important, she would have been more careful about where she placed such private belongings...

He was unaware that he'd started walking forward until another voice called out to him, and it was not coming from his mind or mouth.

"Ash! C'mon! I know that it can't be taking you that long to use the bathroom! We still have loads to do before dinner and I still have to show you which room you'll be staying in!" Misty moaned, sounding like it wasn't worth the trouble.

Ash snapped awake, finally coming to as he noticed his hand stretched out, barely five inches from the book. He turned around and ran back into the hallway as quickly and silently as he could, hearing footsteps coming up the staircase, and pretended to be looking at a picture that was hanging on the wall right outside Misty's room.

It was a nice snapshot of, what looked like, a younger Misty, her sisters, and a couple of grown ups standing behind them. He could have sworn that the woman had Misty's eyes, while the man seemed to have her complexion. Neither had her hair but he'd always thought of that as an extremely unique part of her, anyways. Looking so much like the four girls in front of them, the two elderly people must have been her...

Misty finally appeared behind him.

"Ash, what--?" Her eyes locked on the photo and her expression seemed to sag with sadness, "A-Ash, c'mon... We've got a lotta things to do and you standing here isn't helping--" Her voice had gone cold and it made Ash turn. Trying to avoid any more trouble, he followed her downstairs and back into the pool area.

Trying to avoid the thought that it seemed much larger and dirtier now than it did before he ate that, er, fortifying meal, he picked up the mop again and began marching over to the other side of the pool, past the diving board.

After a few minutes of tripping over his own feet and sliding over the mess his mop was making, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Misty holding up her own cleaning equipment and smiling lightly at him, a major difference from her expression about ten minutes ago when they'd been standing outside her room. He gave her a whithering look nonetheless and she looked at him questioningly.

"What? You didn't actually think that I was going to make you do all of this yourself, did you?" She said, laughing at him as he looked at all of the work he'd done so far. He seemed to be imagining how fast she would have brought out a helping hand if he'd managed to move around slower.

"Well, speaking from first-hand experience... Yeah, I kinda did." Ash muttered, only half-angry. For some reason, the knowledge that she wanted to start working now was enough for him to think his load felt only half as heavy as when he started, "But thanks. You probably know more than anyone that I'd need a couple of extra hands here."

"Yeah." She nodded and began walking a bit further forward, in the direction of the other side of the arena, towards the main entrance and foyer, and started working up a bleached lather against the baseboard.

After awhile, he was finished. Sweaty and smelling like bleach, he headed over to Misty so that he could help her a bit on her end. Pikachu was still slurping away his ketchup on the sidelines and was in such a euphoria that he was failing to notice the world around him and so, when Ash just happened to slip on the wet floor and fly straight into Misty, he was too busy licking his paws to Thundershock the two.

Ash tripped on her foot and landed on top of her, his head lolling just over her shoulder blade, his chin and neck arching over her as his upper body fell onto her chest. He seemed frozen because his breathing lapsed as he became conscious of how they were situated around each other. His response was slow, his face coming into view as he raised himself off of her slightly and looked into her eyes...

__

They're really pretty when you see 'em up close... He thought, still not moving from his position, _Whaa--? What the Heck am I thinking?! _He thought furiously to himself, still unable to shake off the oncoming blush from their position. He didn't understand any of what was going on. He'd never felt like this before; his heartbeat had never been pacing like a Rattata and he'd never taken notice, nor tried to take notice, of how any girl's eyes glowed or how pretty they were. And now that his brain was sending very different and new images of Misty looking exceptionally cute to his senses, he was suddenly compelled to kneel down and use his lips to--

"--NO! No, no, no, no, no!" He shook his head repeatedly and removed himself from on top of her body, half-heartedly holding out a hand to help her up (well, it HAD been his fault that they fell in the first place) and watching her accept it. At the moment he wanted to be anywhere but there, especially as his visions were currently mutating into what some twisted mind would refer to as "fantasies".

"Oh, heh, sorry Ash. Guess I should have mopped the water in that area a little better so that it wasn't so wet. Um, why don't you take a break and I'll take care of that? And then I'll show you the Guest Room and you can take a nice shower and change before we get something for dinner." She chuckled in a falsely happy tone before pulling herself to her feet and dusting herself off. Ash saw her eyes swing in his direction before she walked away and continued sweeping up the base of the pool.

__

If I didn't know better, I'd say that she really wanted me to continue with that... What just happened? Ash wondered to himself while walking away from the red-head. Misty eyed him out of the arena before taking a moment to think something, herself.

__

Don't worry, Misty... He'll grow up someday...

---

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Post-Author's Notes: I'm probably the most horrible, sadistic, poorly-advised fan author ever to be heard from, aren't I? Still, I admit that this is where I wanted the story to go, even if it is pretty early, quick-shifted, and badly approached.

But here's some things for you guys to think about:

1.) Misty was the one terrified that she'd give away the way she feels for Ash, but isn't it him whose making the most mistakes?

2.) Now that Ash's mutated thoughts are causing him to think of Misty in different ways, how far will he go to clear everything up between them?

And...

3.) Will he ever get a chance to read Misty's diary? (I'm sorry; I just have to add a sneaking-a-peek-into-the-book-of-female-feelings scene...)

Ne, he, he, he, he... Chibi/Warlordess will not be telling!

--Chibi/Warlordess logging off!


	4. Times Of Change

Title: Closure

Author: Chibi/Warlordess

Pre-Author's Notes: Reviews! Reviews! Reviews! Thank you, my beloved readers for sending in your comments and letting me know what you think! I didn't really know what to think about this 'flop' of an idea at first but... Let's just say that you all have convinced me that it's worth continuing! Like I said, thanks oh-so-much for the comments and I hope that you enjoy this chapter! Remember, any idea's (though I can't promise that I'll use them) can be sent in your Review Reply by pressing the li'l bluish button at the bottom of the page! (Unless you're on TPT or any other site that's not FFN; then you can use the according Reviewing Page)! Arigatou!

**MAJOR NOTE**: For those who read chapter three, please go back and read it again because I uploaded the wrong file before, and have made sure when reposting this time, that it was the right one. I ask you to reread so that you know what's going on this time around, and if you have anymore questions for me after doing so, review them I'll answer you next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I don't even think I own this idea. I'm just the first person that I know of whose decided to post anything on FFN/anywhere else about it.

Summary: Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.

--- **Shout-Outs **---

Note: Okay, I'm doing this at the request of JAMO/Brogramn because... Well, I dunno why... He said it would make the readers feel better if they were individually recognized, so here we go!

JAMO/Brogramn: I'm painting an ugly picture of Ash? Really? Well, I'm sorry about that... I mean, I was just trying to convey the same characteristics of his that we all know and love. Don't you worry your little heart out, though. Things will be changing for him within the next couple of chappies. And the whole thing about the age difference..? Well, he's not any older than he was in Miss Discovery(!) and, again, I'm just trying to cut across those emotions of his that we're so used to. And it's not really how his thoughts of girls would be changing, it's more about his thoughts of Misty... I mean, it's like you fall for someone, just outta the blue, and you're wondering 'How the Heck--?!' He's still getting used to puberty.((Sweatdrop)) Oh, could you email me when you get the chance? You'll find the address on my bio, if it doesn't show here:

Silverflare: Oh, like I WOULDN'T give you one of these, Dearest Net Sis of mine. I mostly just wanted to say thanks for traveling all the way out here to FFN to read and comment on my fic! I'm so happy that you support my work so much!

Aki Tenshi Nerf-Chan: Thanks so much for your commentation. Your wish of continuation is granted!

Sensational Sista: Yay! Thanks for the comment (I say that line WAY too often, but it's true that I'm very thankful for the wonderful reviews you all give me)! It really fluffed me up! You're really wanting me to finish, huh?

KawaiiCherryBlossom: Again, you expected anything LESS than a Shout-Out, my elderly idol? (Wah, hah, hah, hah, hah!) As always, thanks for your support (again, another thing that I say WAY too often, no matter how true)! I hope that you're truly enjoying me newest fic!

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Chapter Four: Times of Change

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"Go, Misty! You're doing great!"

It was three days later. After risking another couple of chancy dinners made (once again) by Misty, using the bathroom for remedial purposes, and getting a good few nights sleep on a comfortable futon, and then waking up to scurrying from downstairs every morning, Ash was pumped and ready to see how Misty's battling skills had improved while they'd been separated.

Knowing her well enough to know that she wouldn't go a day without monumentous training and preparation for a defense in the name of the Cerulean Gym, Ash wasn't that surprised when he got downstairs and saw her whipping an eleven year old and his Ratatta (who weren't at very high levels or very strategical, anyways). But, all ready having acknowledged her as a good trainer, he couldn't just sit back and ridicule her... And so he got active.

"Good match, Misty! You're good enough to take on other Gym Leaders for the League, you know?" Ash stated, smiling very widely at her.

"Ash, c'mon, you don't have to say things like that just to make me feel proud of myself..." But she was still glowing scarlet, "Besides, that kid still needed a lot of practice before he took me on. He told me himself that he had slacked off training when going through Mt. Moon so he was unprepared." She took a deep breath, "Some of the other trainers are really tough, even for me. In fact, I've sometimes resorted to using the strategies you did in your Gym battles so that I could overrule them..."

"Really? Huh; I'm glad that I could be of help, at least." He smiled at her.

"Yeah; you have been." Misty looked thoughtful for a moment before a grin flitted across her face, "Tell you what; as payment for the wonderful job you've been doing here at the gym, I've decided that, after all of the trainers have come and gone for today, (and once they've faced my wrath), we can go out to eat. I think there's a new buffet restaurant open down the road and word is that they specialize in foreign foods. I owe you anyway, for being the best friend I've ever had." She blushed but didn't let it get the best of her, even when Ash stared in her direction in confusion.

"Hey, Misty, what's with the sudden compliment?"

"I don't seem to give you enough of those, do I?" She replied in question, interrupting his bout of puzzlement.

"Huh..? But-sure you do, Myst! I know how you really feel about me, even if you don't show it that often!"

Misty's eyes widened as she stared in front of her. He did..? How could he?! She might have been slightly obvious but his brain capacity couldn't have picked up on how she truly felt about him, could it? Did Ash _really _deserve that much more credit..?

"Y-you know how I feel about you..?" She finally turned around and met his eyes, "Then tell me how you feel about me! You don't make much of an effort letting me know what you really think about me either..." She crossed her arms and waited for him to answer her.

Ash was having a bit of trouble thinking of a good reaction. Every time he tried to spout out something along the lines of "best friend and a good trainer", the words would get stuck in his throat. Finally, after about two minutes of spluttering, he was able to say something.

"Awe, c'mon Myst! You know what I think about you! You're smarter than that!" He waved his hand casually and walked around her, reaching the doorframe that led to the main entrance of the gym.

"Yea, I think I have a pretty good idea..." Misty murmured sadly as she stumbled half-heartedly after him.

"You'd better be ready; you have three trainers out here waiting for a battle and a Cascade Badge." Ash stated, looking back at her with a coy grin, "But I'm sure that they'll have a good challenge trying to get it. I'm rooting for ya, Misty!"

Misty felt a small smile reach her face, even though she was trying her hardest to remain pouty. It always upset her, somehow, knowing that all it took was one compliment from him to make her happier. And she always beat herself up for it, thinking about how easy it was to give in. She hated everything about him that made her feel so wonderful and safe inside.

"Okay, trainer number one! I need the first person to have arrived at the gym to please enter the battle arena. Today's schedule features one-on-one battles so please be sure to have your Pokemon ready."

An hour later, Misty knew why so many people had visited her gym to try and win a Cascade Badge. Alongside her hometown's horrible reputation (that she was slowly but surely repairing), a lot of the travelers would take advantage of her system of one-on-one battles during that day. They would appear, the main thought in their head being _'All I have to get through is one match; I only have to beat one of her Pokemon to win.' _And they would use that vote of confidence for succession.

It worked partly well; the battlers were confident and courageous, if not too flashy or bold. They trained their Pokemon well, used powerful, yet even, techniques, and brought a great assault against Misty's Pokemon. It was nothing new to her that she lost two out of three of the matches.

After winning the first one, she'd gotten a little ahead of herself, taking her next opponent too lightly and suffering quite a loss against his Pidgeotto. And then, frustration settled in with the doubt of her abilities and the shame of losing with Ash sitting in the crowd watching her. The last match of the day was probably her most embarrassing one ever, having lost with her Staryu against a Metapod. That's right; a METAPOD.

"Aw, c'mon Misty. It's okay that you're not the best. I mean, it's hard trying to keep up appearances and everything and, managing so much at once, I can see where some things might not go the exact way you want them. We all have those types of problems!" Ash patted her on the back as she collapsed beside him, sighing deeply and checking a small Jigglypuff pencil case, cushioned and holding eight wedgings for single Cascade Badges, two of which were empty.

"I don't get it... I've trained so hard and when I win, everything's so perfect and easy, but when I lose, somehow I can't concentrate and end up feeling just as much pain as my Pokemon..." She pulled out her Pokeballs containing Starmie, Staryu, Horsea, Psyduck, Politoad, and Corsola, "I need to train them some more; maybe get Horsea to evolve, finally... And Psyduck."

Ash smiled, "Well, it's nice to know that you didn't just throw him into the streets and give up on him. It's obvious that Psyduck has really great potential if you can just strengthen his will to battle. He just seems a little lazy... If you could get him on a diet and maybe teach to swim laps and exercise, then I'm sure he'll be a Golduck in no time!"

"Yeah..." Misty got up from her seat and pulled on her raincoat, "C'mon, Ash. Let's go out to lunch; my treat. I wanna drop off my Pokemon at the Centre so that they can rest up for the night. Cause tomorrow, things are gonna change!" She marched out the door.

Ash pulled Pikachu from the lounging chair he'd been resting on in the arena and laid him on his shoulder, tapping him awake and following after his friend.

-

"Whoa! This looks good!" Ash's over-excitement at seeing so many foreign cuisines steaming, broiling, baking, and frying in front of him was pretty funny. His mouth was slightly open, as if he'd just started getting over a bit of a shock, and there was a sudden look in his eyes that said: 'Hand me a bib and stand back!'

"Um... I'm glad you like it. I told you this place had some good..." Misty's voice caught in her throat as she watched Ash shovel a bowl of Pork-fried rice into his mouth, and then she watched him swim through two egg rolls and a plate of lo mien, "A-Ash... It's a buffet restaurant. You can slow down; we're not in a hurry..."

"Mmm... This stuff is so good! And I don't even know what half of it is!" But that didn't mean that he wasn't taking advantage of a free meal.

A lot of time passed as Ash served his own way through eleven main courses, twenty-nine side dishes, sixteen desserts, and at least forty drinks. By the time he was ending his little lunch raid, he was rather drunk in himself.

Ash finally had a chance to look up and saw Misty sitting opposite him with half of the faculty behind her; all of them were wearing looks of either disgust or wonderment, "Whassa matter, Misty..? Dun'cha like the food..?"

"Ash, it's almost six o'clock. We've been here for five hours and I finished eating a LONG time ago. The manager and his crew have to get ready for the dinner parties and we have got to go!" Misty was looking slightly harassed, and her eyes were locking onto him.

She pulled herself out of her seat and grabbed onto his arm, pushing him towards the door. Once she got there and Ash was wavering outside waiting for her, she turned back to the waitress who'd served them their drinks and handed her a twenty dollar bill, bowing in apology and saying, "I am so sorry for my friend's rudeness. He's such a dingbat!"

"Am not!" He shouted from behind the glass doors, his voice muffled by the barrier between them.

Misty huffed loudly and left to tend to him as he giggled from the sugar-rush he'd obtained by drinking so much soda. The on-going rain continued to fall around them as they walked, their moods and faces in the opposite direction. After a minute or so, she aggravatedly held out the umbrella she'd folded under her arm in order to shroud the both of them from the storm.

And then she cracked.

"Ash! Why did you have to act that way in public? I don't ask for much but a little common courtesy would go SUCH a long way... I don't understand why you have to behave so badly? I know that you like to eat and that you have trouble saying 'no' to a nice, large plate of food but..." Misty sighed. She knew what was coming as soon as Ash interrupted her to comment on her former statement.

"If you know so much about me then why don't you let me do what I like without acting like I'm an embarrassment to humanity! I mean, c'mon Myst! You're not my mom! And I don't like it anymore than--" Ash saw Misty cringe at the name, obviously discovering new hatred for it.

"--Don't call me that! Not right now!" She stomped ahead of him, her face screwed up in anger. Ash followed after her, fast becoming angry at her attitude and her lack of explanation as to why she was behaving so irrationally.

"Why not? I've been calling you that nickname for almost two years... I thought that you liked it." Ash had gone quiet but he was looking upset and pouty. In absense of his former glee, he was looking exceptionably miserable at the moment but Misty was in front of him and facing down the road so she didn't see his expression.

"Yeah, well I don't. I don't like how you call me that, like it's always been okay to give me whatever name you want! I don't like the way you treat me! I don't like how you act so indifferent towards me! I'm not your boyfriend or your pet, Ash! I'm a girl and I thought that I was one of your best friends! I hate everything you've been putting me through over these past four-and-a-half years!" She turned around to face him with her hands on her hips, and after seeing the hurt and (slightly) heated expression upon his face, she changed her tone, hoping to make Ash understand how she felt while in a calmer sense, "...I'm sorry, Ash; maybe it was just the way that you were acting like such a kid this afternoon but--" Her voice died in her throat again as she saw his silhouette standing against the streetlight.

Ash was looking rigid; his hands were fists at his side, his eyes were screwed shut, and he was looking suddenly aggressive.

"Well, Misty, I've got quite the list for you! You think that I love the way that you hit me all the time?! I don't! You think that I love the way you act around other people while I'm there, how you talk about me as if I'm not, how you say all those things about my lack of training skills and my idiotic, dense personality?! I don't, Misty, I don't! I can't stand your attitude, your tomboy appearance, the way you treat your Pokemon and friends! No wonder you were alone when we first met! You're so pushy, stubborn, angry, irritating, ugly; it's a wonder how your sisters put up with you for all those years!" He took a moment to catch his breath and looked up as he heard something fall to the ground in front of him. It was Misty's umbrella.

But Misty, herself, was no longer standing beside or underneath it.

She was running in the opposite direction with tears in her eyes... And she wasn't looking back. The rain continued to fall as Ash stood there, unable to move for all of the good it would do him.

---

Post-Author's Notes: Yay! The best chapter yet! When I added the second part in here (the restaurant and onward), I didn't have the exact finish in mind. It took me awhile to piece all of the less-flattering characteristics together, considering some of them I like. But I had to put it in Misty and Ash's POV's about each other so it was a little harder... Especially since I haven't watched one episode since the one where she left...

But, ignoring that pain... Thanks for reading! I hope that you find time to review and that you keep the title and my penname in mind so that you can continue reading next time!


	5. The Dreams of Fickle Hearts

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Title: Closure

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Author: Chibi/Warlordess

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Pre-Author's Notes: Welcome, readers, to the fifth chapter of 'Closure'! I know that things are speeding along here, probably faster than you'd like them to, and that it got pretty serious last time but... Have no fear! I shall find SOME way to deal with all of the trouble that's happened. As for the reviewers from last chapter, thanks for your comments/opinions/questions/whatever-else-you-people-didn't-understand! For the DEDICATED readers/reviewers, bunches of thanks and showers of joy and chocolate-chip cookies for coming back again and again!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I don't even think I own this idea. I'm just the first person that I know of whose decided to post anything on FFN/anywhere else about it.

****

Summary: Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.

---

****

Chapter Five: The Dreams of Fickle Hearts

---

Misty ran back towards the gym doors, ignoring that dull hurt that was beating inside of her chest and the thunder and lightning that struck in the background. And she had tried... She really had... To be everything that he would approve of... Why couldn't everything be just like in those books she read whenever she got bored; those romance novels..?

__

Yea, right... If my life were like a stupid novel, then he would have all ready pulled me into his arms and--, She broke off as she jammed her key into the front entrance and turned it, leaving it there and jumping up two steps at a time in order to get to her room as fast as was possible. She didn't care; if any strangers tried to break in to her home, Psyduck (Well, not likely...) or the other Pokemon could handle them.

She didn't need this. No one needed their head bitten off, especially by the guy that they--

Her eyes darted open and she saw that she had absentmindedly collapsed onto her bed, facing the moon glowing outside her window. She sat up, looking at her soaked-through shirt and shorts, her hair sopping wet. She felt the ticklish trickle of rain water falling down her cheeks and arms, before her mind turned to other matters.

What had she been thinking..? She had been so short with him, the guy that she--

"I've gotta deal with my feelings right now... This isn't time for a pity party. I need to write in my diary. I know that I can always confide in that." She jumped off of her bed, wiping her eyes and heading to shut the door real quick. She needed absolute privacy when handling something so... fiddly, as her diary.

Instead of stripping herself of her damp clothing, she ended up sitting down at her desk, pulling out a pen from her drawer, and her laying her face gently, and tiredly, in one of her hands. Misty drew breath and began to write:

****

Dear Diary,

I should have known that no visit from Ash could have been simply "friendly". I dunno what happened exactly but I'm willing to bet, considering it was between the two of us, that it was stupid. I guess I don't really listen to myself when I get angry, otherwise I'd have realized long before now that what I say about him really hurts.

What is it about him that makes me act like that? I'm so defiant; I act one way when I mean the other. Maybe if he could see _that _me, instead of the obvious me, then he'd realize.

I'd like to change just like "that!" but it would be kinda hard to explain why I was suddenly acting so friendly and open... Especially now that we've both said such personal things to each other...

Misty yawned; her eyes were dry now, but somewhat chapped from the sleep beginning to hang around them. She rubbed it away with her hands and blinked. All of that stupid crying had tuckered her out... She was tired enough to ignore the fact that she wasn't even laying in her bed. Actually, this chair was mighty comfortable at the moment...

****

Why did I have to open my mouth and complain? It's never enough to know that I'd made him happy, taking him out to that restaurant so that he could get a nice, poison-free meal... I know what he really thinks of my cooking... Who can blame him? I never would have eaten it, had I had a choice... I just don't know why he lied to me yesterday when I asked him what he thought.

There's no mistaking the misery I've been ladling to him. He'll probably get the first ferry outta here and then he'll be angry at me for a year or two and our relationship will die out and...

Okay, maybe I'm over-reacting.

But, he probably hates me now. It's just another cracked stepping stone that's gonna make it harder for me to reach forward to him and admit how much I...

Misty's head drooped onto her desk, her deep and even breathing the only evidence to the fact that she'd fallen asleep right there.

-

"Stupid!" Ash muttered furiously to himself, his hands in his pockets along with the protruding candy-cane handle to Misty's umbrella as he walked back towards the gym. He didn't know why he was bothering; he had a distinct feeling that Misty would have locked him out for the night. In any case, "Why don't I just take a crack at her family and _really _get her mad at me!"

He kicked a pebble that had been laying "in his way", as he walked down the Cerulean Valley Road towards the bridge off leading to the gym. He didn't understand where his sudden outburst had come from. One moment Misty was criticizing his publicly humiliating display back at the buffet restaurant, the next his mouth was open and his voice was spouting out the many factors about Misty that had, at one point, greatly annoyed him.

It didn't really bother him anymore that she was a little mouthy, and demanding, and aggressive, and cooking-impaired... It was all part of the package you received when Misty was your best friend.

"...Pika?"

Oh, yea! He'd forgotten about Pikachu being there.

"Pikachu, were you awake when we were... You know... Shouting at each other?"

"Pika, Pikapi, chu ka pi chu _pika_."

Ash sweatdropped, "Yea, I guess... You're right... It would be kinda hard to sleep through that... But, don't you think that it was her fault? I mean, she just started biting my head off about all of my most interesting traits like they were the takes in some random horror movie--"

"--Pika, kachu pipipi!" Pikachu laughed slightly as he commented.

"That was real LOW, Pikachu; _you shouldn't treat your friends like that!_"

Both Pikachu and Ash became serious after his bristling statement.

"Pikapi, pika kachu pi pi chu."

"Yeah, I guess I had better go and try, at least." And Ash, sighing as he resigned to his fate, walked up the lawn to the front door, expecting that he was going to have to bang on it for a few hours before she actually let him in, and getting quite a shock when his fingers had barely brushed the knob before the door fell open and the key in the lock dangled freely, tapping against the surface, "Why would she leave the door open?!" He whispered furiously to himself, his mind in a state of slight panic (it was too late in the night for his alarm to be full-blown) as he threw open the door all the way.

Nothing greeted him, not even the ticking of a hallway clock. It was rather creepy when it was that dark and silent.

"Pikachu, do you smell any type of unfamiliar scents..?" Ash asked, just to be cautious, as he twisted the key in the knob and removed it, placing it on the small table next to the door.

Pikachu leapt off of Ash's shoulder, silently sniffing for a moment, before turning back towards Ash with a calm, relieved expression on his face.

"Pika, Pikapi." He shook his head and Ash let out a deep, easing breath.

"It must just be me, then. We'd better lock up and go to bed, Pikachu... I wanna try and make things up to her tomorrow..." Ash turned the lock from the inside of the hall, cautiously placing his hands in front of him in order to feel his way towards the staircase so that he wouldn't end up tripping over something and cracking his head open... Or at least stubbing his toe...

Upon reaching the upstairs landing, Ash looked down the hallway and saw a light contrasting from underneath Misty's door, turning a single, dark, bare strip of wooden-paneled floor to sweet honey-brown. He walked slowly forward, pressing his ear to her doorway and listening for any negative sounds coming from within.

None were apparent so Ash tried knocking hesitantly upon the entrance to her room, his breath bated slightly as he bit his lip, hoping against hope that Misty was a little calm and reasonable-enough to listen to him begging her for mercy. After a minute or so of no answer, Ash felt his heart beginning to race again. After all, even if she'd been ignoring him just because she was still angry, she would have had the heart (and ferocity) to yell, "Go away!"

What if Pikachu just hadn't been able to pick up a scent from forced entry downstairs, or if it had been masked? What if someone was inside of Misty's room right now, searching her belongings and holding her hostage, or else forcing her down onto her bed right now, gagging her so that she couldn't call him for help--

"Misty!" He threw open the access-way to be greeted by the least expectant of sights; Misty, slumped over her desktop, her face pressed against the pages of some anonymous book, her breath coming in small, even takes, and her room empty accept for the calm, innocent light of the table lamp beside her, "Oh... Heh, heh..." He whispered, realizing how awkward it would have been, had Misty actually woken up to his shout.

"Pika..?" Pikachu quirked one of his bright ears in question as he looked over Ash's shoulder at the calm, almost sweet, scene before him, "Pikachu pika kachu."

"Yea, that does look kinda uncomfortable for her, Pikachu... I'm gonna put her in her bed, so that she doesn't wake up tomorrow with a cracking neck." Ash stepped forward and bent down over Misty's silhouette, placing one of his arms under her bent knees and the other one under her neck, and lifted her from the chair. She was pretty light, but that didn't mean that she was the easiest thing to carry.

Ash stumbled a bit as he slipped her carefully under her blankets, making sure that she looked content before turning to leave. Heading back towards the door, his eyes fell upon her desk. He stepped forward to turn off her light... Before his eyes rested, once again, upon the vibrant red book that was her diary.

The pages were all ready open to a certain entry, and unbeknownst to him, his eyes were all ready scraping down the page. Try as he might, he couldn't stop himself from feeling somewhat interested in what Misty would have time to write when in such a negative mood; he had a strong notion that it was about him.

__

"...No visit from Ash could have been simply 'friendly'... I guess I don't really listen to myself when I get angry... Would have realized... What I say... Really hurts... What about him makes me act like that...? I act one way when I mean the other..." Ash stopped reading for a moment, his eyes swerving frantically over Misty's form as she shuddered out a single sigh and turned towards the wall; he rotated back and continued reading, _"...Maybe, if he could see that me... Then he'd realize... I'd like to change... But it'd be kinda hard to explain... Why did I have to complain..? It's never enough to know that I'd made him happy... So that he could get a poison-free meal... I know what he thinks of my cooking..." _Okay, that comment stung. And Ash had thought that his acting, no matter how little he DID act, had been quite good, _"...I just dunno why he lied... There's no mistaking the misery I've ladled onto him... But he probably hates me now..." _Ouch, ouch, and ouch. He couldn't believe that Misty would think, after a stupid, single fight, that he would just turn around and hate her! _"...Just another stepping stone that's gonna make it hard for me to admit how much I..."_

Ash backed away with a shuddering breath. He'd been holding it all through his second half of reading her diary entry. Now finished, he didn't think he'd ever be able to breathe again. She'd never finished writing, but something about her tone of hopeless misery, mingling with what could have been along the lines of hope and affection, from the text had made him think that she was about to put down how much she...

He gulped and raised his hand to turn off the light, looking carefully to see that Misty was still asleep; she was. Ash flicked the light switch and, looking longingly at the shadow of the book that the moon cast along the table, he picked it up again and closed it, placing it carefully under his arm.

Pikachu refrained from shouting out his master's name. No matter how wrong it was for Ash to be taking Misty's diary, it was even worse if he ended up waking her and hearing her scream bloody murder in the dead of night.

Once they'd stepped out into the hallway, Pikachu bit Ash's ear in order to get his attention, which had still been wandering blankly over the diary's past contents.

"Pikapi! Pikachu chu pi!"

"Shh! I know, Pikachu, but... I've gotta know what she thinks about me..! You have to understand; this could help ME understand!" Ash whispered urgently, holding the book closer to him and tip-toeing back down the hall.

"Pikapi..." Pikachu growled, not sure that he wanted to hear his master's excuses.

"Pikachu, I'm sorry; I know that it was wrong and everything but..." Ash huffed, trying to find the proper words, "Misty likes to write her feelings in truth in here! Everything she said to me earlier could all be a lie, just like her attitude towards me! I need to know what she really thinks, Pikachu! About me, about our friendship, even about herself! What she wrote sounded really depressed, and self-degrading and I..." He broke off as they exchanged dark looks of resolution in the darkness, "Look, I'll read a few of the passages that seem about us and then I'll sneak the book back into her room and put it on her desk before she wakes up in the morning! She'll never know!" Pikachu threatened to Thundershock him, "I'm not doing this just to invade her privacy... I'm doing it because she'll never tell me the truth on her own; she needs help with speaking about her feelings towards other people. I'll steer clear away from anything that has nothing to do with us."

Pikachu looked at him as though daring him to go through with this, to think of the consequences and do otherwise, but Ash's mind was set.

"Don't worry..."

---

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Post-Author's Notes: Whew! What a heated, yet somehow still boring, chapter! I know that much didn't happen in this one but the characters NEEDED an intervention. I'll make some "stuff" go on in the next chapter so that you readers won't be tempted to rip my head off.

In the meantime, review and tell me what you think of the fic so far!


	6. Strike Three

Title: Closure

Author: Chibi/Warlordess

Pre-Author's Notes: Welcome to the much-awaited sixth chapter! I know that I've kept you all still in anticipation but I'm back and I'm as hot as ever. Now, a quick thing to say before I comment on the reviews, I added some of Misty's diary entries just to get an emotional grip on her real thoughts. I'm sure that we know everything all ready, being her dedicated fans, but Ash needs them read aloud so that he's forced to pay attention (tee hee). Anyway, I'll still include a well-lengthened chapter so don't worry that the diary entries are cutting a huge slab off of your fiction-ated intake. I've got it all worked out...

Now, comments on the reviews. Of course, thanks so much to the every-chapter-reviewers; your continued support of my writing has me jumping off the walls. To those one-timers-who-probably-lost-interest, t'is okay if you don't like it or are unable to review; one comment is enough. To the readers who haven't yet reviewed: YOU BETTER GET TO IT!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I don't even think I own this idea. I'm just the first person that I know of whose decided to post anything on FFN/anywhere else about it.

Summary: Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.

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Chapter Six: Strike Three

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Dear Diary,

Something bad happened today. Although he tried his hardest, Ash lost in his battle against the other Preliminary Finalist. I kinda wonder if it's my fault, since I did officially declare myself his training coach, and intend to teach him everything I knew. Maybe I just wasn't enough...

Also, we're heading back to Kanto, hopefully for a little vacation. We're actually going to head straight through the place where Ash and I first met. Maybe it'll strike a memory in him and we'll spend a little time celebrating some sort of reunion! I can't expect a lot from him but... This is pretty special, isn't it? We've known each other for almost four years now!

I won't get my hopes up, but let's just pray that something happens...

-

Dear Diary,

Something happened, and I couldn't be more miserable... We've all ready passed Raphsody Falls, and as I expected, he acted as if he'd never seen it before... And, as if things couldn't be worse--My sisters called me today and told me that I had to come back home so that they could take another vacation away from me! (Sure, that wasn't what they said, but it's not like Daisy invited me to go for once, instead of Lily or Violet...)

I guess that it's kinda okay (I can't believe that I'm writing this) cause, in the end, Ash ended up proving to me how much I mean to him. He told me that I'm a great trainer for once, and that he can't wait until we meet again. I suppose that I can take that as a guarantee that he won't forget me as soon as I'm gone.

Parting ways was hard, but it gave me a lot to think about too. I know now that I feel something towards him. I felt horrible earlier, knowing that I had to leave him behind (more-so than Brock), and I could only feel that bad if I cared a lot for him, right? I think that he cares too, just not as much... At least, not yet.

Is it too much to ask that Ash grow up a little and realize that I'm going to be standing there, right next to him, for the rest of his life..?! (Even if not literally!)

-

Dear Diary,

I called the Petalburg PokeCenter in Hoenn and, lucky for me, Ash was healing his Pokemon at the time. I thought that it was weird that he wasn't actually staying there overnight to stock up on supplies, but then he explained that he'd been offered a room at the Petalburg Gym by the hosting family. Their children are going to start traveling with him, it seems.

He mentioned that one of them is a girl...

I wonder if she'll fall for him like I have? I hope not... I've always wanted another girl to travel with, but I don't think that I could stand a battle of the hearts with Ash as the prize. I care for him and everything, but this new complication has me worried.

Is it just me, or is that girl prettier than me, sweeter-looking than me, and probably friendlier and less-aggressive than me..?

-

Dear Diary,

I knew it! I knew something was up! I wrote to Ash awhile back, hoping that a Carrier Pidgey would be able to contact him faster than my bad luck searching in the Centre's and he wrote back telling me that something was wrong with that girl... May, I think her name was... He said that she had been acting strangely towards him all week.

I can't have this! I've got to stand up for myself! Even though I'm in another country... On the other side of the Pokemon Continent... Without any means of transport or Gym-Watch... I don't think I'll be able to see him for awhile...

Maybe being in contact by mail is better? Maybe all of his grand news about that May will be less painful if I just have to read it to myself... Over and over and over again until I get the chance to burn his letters... And then the thoughts can reflect in my mind...

I'm depressing myself, I think, so I've gotta go...

PS: Ash actually sent a photo of him and Brock, and a gift. I'm surprised that they're dressed so differently, but then again, I'm also just a bit relieved... I was kinda beginning to wonder if they knew how to shop for themselves... And Ash replaced his Pokemon League cap and sent the old one to me! I've placed it somewhere special so that it won't get damaged!

-

Dear Diary,

I began traveling out to Hoenn today because my sisters came back and told me that they planned on staying home for awhile before leaving again. Well, it's not like that plan has any problems with me! Now I can give that stuck-up, coaching replacement of mine a nice little word or two on subtlety and territory! She's not gonna flash herself at Ash and expect him to be puddy in her hands!

Except... Well, My sisters forced me into one of their bedrooms saying that now that they're big-time, modeling celebrities (it's been a thing for Daisy, especially since she won those tickets at the beauty contest), they can't have me running around dressed like Cinderella and giving them a bad name... And now I look just as bad as that girl. I wonder if Ash will think any differently about me, now..?

Still, my prince has gotta notice that my glass slipper is missing sometime, right?

-

Dear Diary,

Well, Ash is still Ash, meaning that he hasn't even noticed that my hair is red, yet... He congratulated me on finding their campsite so easily from his instructions... Phht! I guess that he thought I wouldn't be able to get there without his "expert" help! Someday, I'd like to show him a thing or two about modesty and humility! I think I deserve more respect and credit than that!

Oh, and you won't believe it! It's the funniest thing! That May-girl is actually kinda nice! I found out that she was only acting weird all that time ago because she was trying to find a way to tell Ash and the others that she didn't want to be a Pokemon Trainer, that she only wanted to be something like a Contestant-something-or-other. And she all ready likes another guy from her hometown, she told me today. I think his name was Brendan Birch, the son of that Professor...

I guess she realized that I was jealous about her and Ash's relationship and she wanted to set things straight. I'm happy that she did! This means that I don't have to worry about placing 'Operation-Replacement-May-Removal' into play... Whew... I was worried that first-degree murder would take a good twenty-five-or-more years off of my life, meaning less time to get Ash to notice that I've been standing here for the past five years!

I hafta go because--I'm going to kill the little idiot... Brock called me over for dinner and he looked up from his bowl of chowder at me as if he'd just realized that I was even here! Is he kidding?! I'm going to damage his brain so much that he'll forget I even left in the first place!

-

Ash smiled at the memory. Yea, Misty had aimed a well-placed mallet whack at his head for that one. He flipped through all of the other entries that he'd read and thumbed through the many pages ahead. He'd stayed true to his word, meaning that he'd only read of the accounts having to do with him, but that had given him enough to think about in itself.

He also remembered the time when May had pulled Misty away from them, telling him and the others that they'd be right back, and walking deliberately off of the pathway for some privacy and what she had dubbed as "girl talk". They'd returned barely two minutes later and, afterwards, had become quite friendly towards one another. He understood that now.

And, he frowned now, reading over a certain line from the last account. Of course he'd noticed before that her hair was red! C'mon, he'd traveled with the girl for four-and-a-half years (counting the time after she'd left for home)! You can't be best friends with someone and not note the more... unique factors of their appearance. Anyway, he'd just never said anything because he was a guy! And guys _never_ go around talking about their female traveling friends' hair, whether it be color or style...

He sighed, slamming shut the tiny book, and looking at the small alarm clock beside his bed. It read **7:03 A.M**. Ash's mouth fell open in shock. He couldn't believe that he'd stayed up all night and early morning, just to read a girl's life record! And, his mind started panicking at the very thought, Misty got up around seven to shower... Meaning that, right now, she was in the bathroom! Her eyes were open, and he knew that if she caught sight of either her diary missing, or him in possession of it, he could kiss his next title match and easy-passing, home-cooked meal goodbye!

"Ugh... I better move before she notices that I'm not snoring!" He jumped out of his bed, tripped over his shoes (he had kicked them off upon entering his bedroom the previous night), and fell to the ground. The earsplitting thump echoed against the walls, making the windows rattle.

He held his breath, his glance swinging at the door as though expecting her to come running through its solid mahogany surface, and jumped up upon hearing a faint squeal of the shower faucet being turned and the complete silence of a bathroom without steaming water running.

"Pika..?" His fall had woken Pikachu up. He turned, seeing his friend leap off the bed to accompany him, and began racking his brain for ideas. If Misty walked into her room now, he could guarantee her eyes and hands following the progress of her unfinished diary entry. Come to think of it, he was lucky that she hadn't yet remembered falling asleep at her desk, otherwise she would have placed the clues together and noticed that he might have seen what she was writing the night before.

Almost as though he had had a second brain still conjuring up a plan to get him out of his desperate situation, he turned to Pikachu.

"Pikachu! I need you to distract Misty while I get her diary back into her room and on her desk! When she opens her bathroom door, run in and... I dunno... Pretend to slip and hurt yourself or something! Keep her busy until you hear me call your name, okay?"

Pikachu looked slightly defiant for a moment, its expression saying quite clearly that he knew that this was going to happen, before he ran out the door.

"Thanks, buddy..." Ash said to himself, getting up from his squatting position on the floor and poking his head into the hallway. Pikachu was down the hall, waiting for the bathroom door to open so that he could continue with the plan. Ash somehow managed to get his brain to focus on his physical movement and placed himself against the wall outside his door, snaking along it until coming to the partly opened entrance to her sleeping quarters.

He threw himself upon the door, crashing into her room and stumbling a bit before proceeding hurriedly to her desk. His mind registered the faint clicking of a doorknob being turned and the sound of a small body slipping and landing ungraciously against the glazed porcelain of the bathtub.

As Misty's voice was heard trying to comfort the uninjured Pokemon, he remembered that her book had been open and, therefore he attempted to find the page of her unfinished entry as his friend pretended to moan its name in the background.

Ah ha!, Ash stated, finding the page filled with the familiar red ink, but then his triumphant smile faded, _Wait, this isn't it... This is dated from... the day I arrived?! What did she write about then... _His eyes fell upon his name and, though he could hear Misty reprimanding his troubled buddy about his faking an injury, his curiosity got the better of him and he began to read...

-

Dear Diary,

Ash just called; amazing, right? You walk around three countries with the guy and he doesn't give you the time of day, and then, right out of the blue, when you two are supposedly a good few thousand miles apart, he rings you up, hoping to get something out of you. As you could have gathered, Ash wanted something from _me_.

He wanted to stay for a week or so at the gym... And I didn't turn him down. And now, I'm entirely beside myself because he's going to be here for the rest of the week, under this very roof with only me and the Pokemon! I dunno what to do... I mean, I couldn't let him sleep in that PokeCentre, where he'd be cramped against the wall and other people's bodies... And I couldn't let him sleep outside because the reason he asked to stay here anyway is because of some huge, ongoing storm starting today...

I'm so worried... I know that I'm going to end up saying, or doing, something really stupid... I've been away from him for so long that I've grown accustomed to talking to no one but myself, and it's been so long since I've had a reason to hide my "secret", so I can't exactly promise what will come out of my mouth... My heart's racing and he hasn't even arrived yet!

I'm upset, too... He called, telling me about the mistake he made, that had led to him asking to sleep here until next Monday... He didn't even want to see me! I bet if he hadn't found out that he'd done wrong, or ended up here in Cerulean, he wouldn't have gotten in contact with me at all!

I better go... It's beginning to rain outside and Ash still hasn't arrived. I'd better go and find him before he gets stuck out there... He probably doesn't remember his way here and needs my help...

PS: ...

-

"...Sometimes, knowing that he's never really cared about me like I do him, makes me regret ever..." Ash's voice broke off as he was interrupted.

"Ash?" The hesitant and heartbroken whisper of Misty shattered the silent and still air as he turned to see her looking at him, a towel draped around her body and a face that held the deepest regret, uncertainty, disbelief, anger, and other mix of emotions ever seen from her at one time.

But, her intrusion from his reading hadn't stopped his eyes from scanning the last couple of words before turning around. Incidentally enough, his quiet reading skill was more enhanced than his reading out loud.

"..._Loving _him."

---

Post-Author's Notes: HAH HAH! I bet you all wanna kill me now, don't you? Well, too bad! I think that the next chapter will be the last... But I'm not sure... I'll try and make it good, though. I dunno what I've got in mind, so don't ask me... So, now it's almost midnight and my first day as a high school Junior is tomorrow (you can tell that I wrote this awhile back, can't you?) so I have to go before my mom notices that I'm not in bed.

See you next time!


	7. Cause I'm In Love With You

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Title: Closure

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Author: Chibi/Warlordess

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Pre-Author's Notes: Welcome to the very last chapter of 'Closure'; that is, before the epilogue. Having all ready finished this chapter before writing the pre-author's notes column, I can proudly say that this fic is my best work... At least for the rest of this week... I have that problem where I write a fic and, while I'm writing it, it seems like the perfect story. And then I'm finished and I go to read it on my own again and I feel that it's horrible (meaning that I now think Miss Discovery! is a loud of crap)... I think I've described that complex to you all before... What would you call that..?

Er, anyway, thanks for sticking with me this far, and I hope that you enjoy this less-than-perfect ending to an AAMR. Please review some of your comments on this fic at the end, and try to contain your more-aggressive sides, because I know that some of you will not take to how Misty commits suicide in her misery, after Ash tells her that he could never feel the same way towards her. (Just kidding! Well... Mostly...)

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Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I don't even think I own this idea. I'm just the first person that I know of whose decided to post anything on FFN/anywhere else about it. Also, I don't own the song "Fall To Pieces", written and performed by Avril Lavigne (lyric composition assisted by Raine Maida). I haven't used the entire song, and it doesn't fit all the way through, but it's good anyway, and I've always wanted to make an AAMR song-fic with this song!

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Summary: Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.

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Chapter Seven: 'Cause I'm In Love With You...

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__

I looked away

And then I looked back at you

You tried to say

Things that you can't undo

If I had my way

I'd never get over you

-

"Ash..." Misty still stood in the doorway, her hands at her side and Pikachu at her heels, watching him as he stood stark still in front of her desk, his hands held over the page of her Diary, as though trying to conceal the information he'd been reading, "You idiot! How could you even think..?! What makes you think that you could do this to me?!" She flung one of the cottony slippers held in her hand at him, hitting him in the arm.

Alarmingly, he didn't respond immediately. His mind still seemed to be absorbing the words he'd just muttered to himself, quoting her life's recording. Suddenly, his head darted in her direction, his face disfigured by the many emotions now comprised upon it.

"What makes me think..? Where do you get off, writing stuff like this? _FEELING _STUFF LIKE THIS... FOR ME?!" Ash was beside himself. He'd never felt so many things at once. Among the anxiousness now filling him at the situation, there was still the pressure, anger, confusion... He didn't know what to think about her anymore, "Misty, you told me that you were my best friend, remember? You've said it to me all these years... You said it to me again, the day I arrived here! And now I'm seeing something so bizarre, so different, so completely... _Unbelievable. _What do you want me to think? To say to you..?"

Misty didn't answer. She strode forward, snatched the book from under his palm, and looked him in the eyes. Instead of the red fury that he had almost been hoping to see, there was a deep regret, pain, fear, and shame, mingling with the tears beginning to well.

"I don't want you to say anything. I don't want you to think anything. I want you to forget what you read. I want you to apologize to me for this invasion of my privacy, and then I want you to get out--" She was abruptly interrupted.

"--I'm not apologizing to someone who I can't even rely on as a friend. I know that I may have done something wrong, but at least I did it for a moral reason. I only wanted to find out what you really thought... About me, about all of us from our travels, about you and me, too; _that _'us', you know--?!"

"--There's no us--!"

"--And I certainly won't be leaving until I hear an apology from you, for lying about our friendship. Misty, I thought that being together all of these years really meant something to you; I didn't think that it'd be so easy for you to lie to me about what you think of me."

"Ash, you think that I didn't have a 'moral' reason for not telling you how I felt? What about this? What about your completely irrational reaction to finding out about it? I never lied to you; I regard you as the best friend I've ever had, and those days we spent together with Brock or Tracey, or even May and Max, are the greatest of my life. Just because I've grown to think more of you over all this time, doesn't mean that I still don't think of you with the same respect and understanding as before..!" She seemed desperate to make him comprehend what she really meant.

-

__

I don't want to fall to pieces

I just want to sit and stare at you

I don't want to talk about it

I don't want a conversation

I just want to cry in front of you

I don't want to talk about it

'Cause I'm in love with you

-

Ash still didn't say anything. Misty took in the situation; her being half-dressed and him being tousle-haired from a night of tossing for a comfortable position in his bed, and exhausted from never letting sleep find him there.

"Look, if you don't wanna talk about this, then get out of my room so that I can get ready for today. If you're so uncomfortable being around me, you can go stay at the Centre, or begin walking to Pallet. Crazy or not, today can't be put on hold due to my personal problems." Misty shoved him out the door, locked it, and turned back to the four beige walls around her, "What am I gonna do..?"

She collapsed on her bed, picking up one of her pillows to nestle her face against the cool top. There was still a tear trickling down her cheek from everything that had just happened. She didn't stop it as it slipped the rest of the way, finally landing and being sopped up by her sheets.

There was no sound anymore except her shuddering breath, but she wasn't attempting to keep it down. There was no point to withdraw from being heard. Everything that she'd been trying so hard to protect was now out in the open and clear as daylight, even to someone as remotely dense as Ash. What could she possibly do to stop things from becoming difficult? She'd been trying to find an answer to that question for the past three years, ever since she'd changed from "Best friend" to "Crush" (or "Secret love"; whichever suites you).

Gathering herself and sitting straight forward, she shook her head and galloped for her closet. There was nothing to be done about broken secrets now. She would just have to live with things the way they were now, and the way they were bound to be, from now on. She'd lived without Ash for this long, and people were able to fall out of love, so what was to stop her from losing these emotions as easy as it had been to gain them in the first place?

"But first..." She pulled out her regular clothes from the closet and hurried back to her bed, "I've gotta make it through today... And then we can worry about whatever else happens." She pulled on her undergarments, threw the red tank-top with yellow vest over her head, and drew her cut-off matching canary shorts over her waist. She ran her brush through her bright, red hair before cautiously opening her bedroom door again and staring outside into the upstairs hallway.

There was no Ash in view and a quick look and listen told her that he wasn't in the next room; nor was Pikachu. She sighed. Maybe he had actually taken her advice and hit the road before things got ugly and more uncomfortable. She tiptoed towards the upper landing, still hoping against hope that she could escape him if he happened to be in the foyer waiting, and began to slip quietly down the staircase.

Upon reaching the first floor hall, she leapt the last couple of steps and rushed towards the front door, spotting her keys and umbrella from the night before immediately upon the small table next to the main entrance. Opening the doorway and checking the lock, she made one last sound check to be sure that Ash had gone before shutting the entryway and taking a few steps forward.

Someone placed a light grip on her arm.

-

__

You're the only one

I'd be with 'till the end

When I come undone

You bring me back again

Back under the stars

Back into your arms

-

Misty yelped before turning to Ash, who had been pressing his body against the right outer wall of the Gym, waiting for her to try and escape. His backpack was slung over his shoulder and Pikachu was perched, as always, on top of his hatted-head.

Keeping his voice low (because he was either too nervous to speak in average tones or because he didn't want to be heard by anyone; she wasn't sure), he said, "We need to take a little detour from that Poke-Pick-Up you've got planned..." He was still holding her where she was, and she was too busy trying to get over the shock of him appearing, to tear her arm away from his grasp.

The thunder sounded around her as she cautiously opened her umbrella-top, her eyes washing over Ash's physique and the rain water now dripping casually from his strangely unemotional face; perhaps he didn't want to risk leading her on in a direction that her heart couldn't afford to stand... She tried to hold out her umbrella for him but he didn't make a move, as though resolving to stay a certain distance away from her.

Sighing in half-relief and panic, she let him pull her lightly in the direction of Seel Park, which was a private reserve for Water Type Pokemon, about five hundred meters from the Cerulean Gym. She knew that he had picked that as their place of discussion because they were sure to be alone, but was still worried about what they'd be talking about upon their arrival.

"Ash..." His grip seemed to unconsciously tighten, as though he were expecting her to start fighting for her freedom, but she only halted mid-step, her eyes concealed as she knelt her head, "...I know that you're angry... I'm angry, too... And I dunno who should be more-so in the here and now because... Because we've both done so much wrong. But, I am sorry that you had to find out this way... How I feel about you." He didn't say anything. Instead, his grip loosened again and he began pulling her a little more forcefully in the direction of the lake that had been installed in the center of the park.

When they'd reached the sanctity of the main attraction, both of them noticed a wrought-iron bench erected about ten feet away. They headed towards it and sat down, Misty jumping for a split second as the bars of her seat chilled her thighs in the early morning. It was clear that, even if someone had managed to find a way to slip past security, that person would be more sensible than to visit the reserve this early in the day.

"I dunno what I should say to you... I dunno what you want me to say to you... I know that it shouldn't matter anymore, that it never should have mattered, that you grew into feeling something different for me. But, somehow, I can't stop thinking that _nothing can ever be the same between us again_. I don't think we've been the same for a long time, Misty." Ash surprised her by speaking, but she remained silent, "I guess that I just haven't noticed anything 'till now. Still... I guess that there's nothing to be done. I'm sorry, though, too... Because I can't say that I feel the same way."

"Ash..." She should have known this was coming... But that didn't take the sting away from hearing the words being said to her, especially in his voice. She turned away from him, and then looked back, but there was still the same, defiant expression upon his face, and he didn't look back at her, preferring to glance in the opposite direction, "I guess that that's it, then--"

"--Hold on." Ash interrupted her, "I'm not done yet, Misty. I can't say that I feel the same way for you, as you do for me... But I can't say that I don't. I'm sorry, Misty, because I dunno how I feel anymore. I don't wanna hurt you, but I know that if I say that I... You know... And then later, it turns out that I don't... That maybe I feel... _That_... Way towards some other girl... I just know that I'd end up hurting you, anyway."

"I... Understand." But she didn't. Or, rather, she didn't want to.

-

__

Want to know who you are

Want to know where to start

I want to know what this means

Want to know how to feel

Want to know what is real

I want to know everything,

Everything

-

And, now... How were they going to change what happened today? Were they just going to forget that it ever happened? Was she going to forget that he ever read her diary, and everything that she'd ever felt? And was he going to forget that he'd learned the same secret she'd been trying to hide and rid herself of for the past however-many years..? Somehow, it just didn't seem that easy.

"Pika..." They both jumped this time, having forgotten that Pikachu was still there with them, "Pikachu pika kachu pi..?"

"No, Pikachu... Everything's not okay with us." Ash answered for them, "And I dunno if it'll ever be okay again... But I do know that if I ever realize during the times that we are, or are not, together, that I love Misty, I'm going to call her up and tell her that I wanna talk to her... And I'm going to treat her as if she's the most wonderful, beautiful, talented, and worthwhile person in the world, and that she deserves someone whose good enough to treat her like a queen. And hopefully, when that day comes, she'll tell me that she never stopped feeling for me the way she did... And, then, we'll both experience true happiness." Ash smiled at her, and looked at her for the first time, and this time their eyes met.

Misty grinned back at him, "_When_..?"

"Hey... You're the one who said that I'd have to realize your glass slipper was missing, right? Well, Cinderella, one day this dunce little prince is going to grow up and bump his head on something really big and hard and he's gonna come galloping up to you on his horse, finally comprehending that that stupid tennis shoe he found late one night belonged to the most special girl in the world, and he'd gonna come and place it on your foot."

"You're right; I did say that, Ash..." Misty's smile suddenly evaporated, to be replaced by a very heated, violated look, "And now that I feel somewhat better, I'm going to do what I've been wanting to do ever since last night." Ash looked confused for a moment, before he noticed that Misty's fist had snaked behind his back.

"OW!" His head and torso flew forward and he bit his tongue as she hit him so hard that he heard something in his back crack. She dashed out of her seat as he fell forward into the spot where her body had been a second before, "Hey! What was that for?!" His tone was somewhat muffled because of the pain in his tongue.

"Well, that was for calling me all of those things last night. Did you think I'd forgotten?" She smiled sweetly at him, and then walked forward as he sat up again, this time looking mentally and physically injured, and trying to reach the place on his back, where she'd punched him in his spine. He looked up as she closed in on him, and felt something sharp come across his cheek.

"And that one, my dearest best friend in the entire world... Was for your invasion of my privacy. If I ever catch you reading my diary again, I'm going to aim the next kick back to reality up your butt, and send you into space! You don't ever grab a girl's diary, the most sacred possession that they own, and expect not to get slapped; a lesson you've finally learned." She patted her hands together, looking almost back to normal, and then turned to him as he began rubbing his cheek.

"...I suppose that I did deserve that... I am sorry... but, after I put you in your bed, and went to turn off your light last night, I read what you'd written and I couldn't help but get interested--" He'd said the wrong thing.

"I wondered how I got there! Lesson number two: DON'T YOU EVER WALK INTO A GIRL'S ROOM WITHOUT PERMISSION!" Misty began stomping away, obviously too angry to trust herself getting within ten feet of him lest he end up with a permanent injury, "It will lead you down a path of enormous danger."

"You know, Misty... Your acting like that is starting to grow on me..." She looked back at him, as he sat there Indian-Style on the bench, still rubbing his cheek with one hand and inspecting his back with the other. She glared, but there was a sort of embarrassed, and hopeful, softness there, and he got up and extended an arm in friendship.

She didn't take it immediately, so he placed it around her neck and began leading her towards the PokeCentre, where she had first been heading to pick up her Pokemon.

Ash started whistling absent-mindedly, but Misty frowned, settling back into unhappiness now that her fuming adrenaline had run out.

Even as best friends, she knew that there would be secrets, hopefully none that Ash would ever try to find out again. There was just some things that you couldn't tell someone, especially when you knew it would go wrong... But, nevertheless, Ash's words had given her faith that, sometime soon, he would come to the conclusion that they had a special relationship... And he would do as he had said earlier, and come running in order to tell her what she'd been wanting to him to say for so many years.

__

"...Your acting like that is starting to grow on me..."He had said.

__

And, little do you know, Ash... You grow more on me everyday...

-

__

I'm in love with you

'Cause I'm in love with you

I'm in love with you

I'm in love with you

-

---

****

Post-Author's Notes: That's the last chapter (besides the, REMEMBER NOW, epilogue). I know that you were hoping for some perfect ending, especially since, before, in chapters three-to-four (or whatever), I hinted that he was definitely showing all of the signs of romantic feelings for her, but he's Ash, meaning that, even if he did start feeling that way, he would never know what it meant unless someone told him straight. And even then, he would be completely indifferent as to having to act differently towards her. So I had to give him a little bit of time.

I know that you would have wanted this differently, and I'm sorry... But at least all of it was still there..! Should I make a one-chapter, epilogue-type sequel? Maybe he realizes what's up and goes after her like he should have done when she left? Well, I dunno... I'll sleep on that... Whenever I actually feel the need to go to sleep...

Um... Give a pal a review before you go, okay? AND NO FLAMES JUST BECAUSE I DIDN'T GIVE YOU THAT PERFECT, MUSHY, AAMRN FINALE!


	8. Fighting Affection

**Title:** Closure

**Author:** Chibi/Warlordess

**Pre-Author's Notes:** Okay, having rebooted my entire computer thanks to that stupid virus, in hopes of making it disappear, I can sadly say that every single file that I ever wrote has been deleted permanently... Including the first chapter eight of Closure. So I'm writing it again. And God forbid that it should be deleted again, because I WON'T be reposting it if it does... But here I am, and you don't have to worry about that stuff yet, at least not until we try this one last time.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Pokemon. I don't even think that I own this idea. I'm just the first person that I know of whose decided to post anything about it on FFN, or anywhere else. So leave me alone.

**Summary:** Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's gym in Cerulean after his defeat in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.

**Dedication:** I'd also like to dedicate this CHAPTER, in particular, to Silverflare07, my internet sis, and a great help and inspiration... And author, so go check out her stuff! Lol! I think she'll like this one, cause she wanted me to add Misty's new Pokemon (think back to the Togepi Mirage special) in here... And I did it just for her!

---

SHOUT-OUTS!

Special thanks goes to the following people for reviewing my work and making me feel like I'd better continue or lose my one and only head! Some of you will have special messages just for you next to your names:

**Hikashi Suzuki -** I thank you for your comments, even if you did enter in just a little bit late... Or, well, REALLY late. But you were kind in your commentation, and that made everything worth it for Chibi.

**Story Weaver1 -** I just feel that I owe you a lot for saying so many wonderful things about my fic, and reviewing chapters that you could have just as easily skipped over. It feels great that you liked each and every chapter so much that you felt the want to review them all separately.

**Brogramn -** I know it seemed sorta strange for Ash to suddenly jump from immature, lil' kid (even if just inside), to sweet, caring, young man just wanting to be there, but the reason for that action was... Well... Nothing more than he was forced to come to a decision. Ash isn't the type of person who runs away from something serious, rather he faces it head on. I know the situation is a little different than a Team Rocket battle, or something like that, but I think it would still fit his profile more if he were to stick with it until the very end!

**KawaiiCherryBlossom-aka-BWF -** Hey, you! I just wanted to thank you so much for all of the confidence you've shown in me! Needless to say, I haven't gotten even ONE negative comment on this fic, but your positive influence on my works has caused Chibi to soar. You're just special like that cause you've been one of my idols since I began writing fan fiction over three years ago!

**xSPiNx -** Hey, SPiN (sry, I'm too lazy to do the special lil' 'x' thingies to your name...)! I just wanted to say thanks for reading this and good luck with your fic! You've been faithful to me ever since the beginning, and so I hope to give you that same type of faith and support while I continue to look forward to continuations on your fic, "Blinded"/"By Chance"/"At First Sight"!

**samuraiduck27**

**Uranasu**

**Thunder Rose**

**Ayashe**

**nmmmmmmkrkrkkeyh**

**Pixie-stickjunkie**

**Dr. Evans**

**alexis**

**Ice-Wind88**

**Chaotic -Kinky- Kitty/Aki Tenshi Nerf-chan**

**MistyLover87**

**flirtyfairy33**

**Etherelemental**

**Ri2**

**Meca-chan**

**Rosemary the Rubix Cube**

**stella-s55**

**Cool Crystal Girl**

**hyliansage**

**mal**

**Stuffy**

**avan**

**Vulpix4Life**

**Z Girl Warrior**

**ash and misty4life**

**gmatxor**

**bluejolteon459**

**Sensational Sista**

**Chibimatchmaker**

**Silverflare07**

**A Nonny Mouse**

**Lord Cynic**

**Shippo123**

**---**

**Chapter Eight (Epilogue):** Fighting Affection

---

"So, this is it, huh? Today you go back to Pallet... Amazing, how many things have happened this week, huh..?" Misty's tone was small, almost transparent when compared to her usual stature. It was obvious that she was still hurt and embarrassed about the goings-on from the day before.

"Yep... But I really enjoyed my time here... And you can expect me to be back whenever I get the chance." They had headed from the kitchen (just having finished breakfast), into the actual gym area, and were making their way to the waters' edge.

Today was another slow day, and Misty was kind of happy, rather than annoyed that she couldn't get any trainers to show up. It just meant spending more time with Ash, and that was all she wanted for the moment.

She looked at Ash and opened her mouth, as though actually hoping to speak her mind, but his somewhat mysterious expression made her falter. His eyes were glued to the water, and they were glowing brightly, as though, impossibly, an idea had formed in his head.

"Hey, Myst..?" He was back to using her nickname now... And that tone could mean only _one _thing...

"What Ash?"

"...Let's have a battle."

"WHAT..?" Was all she could muster. She wanted today to be a little more special than a trainer-to-trainer leaving. And she couldn't understand, after what Ash had just gotten through saying about definitely wanting to return, why he would ever think a battle could cure the sadness of their goodbye, "C'mon, Ash! Are you sure you don't wanna... I dunno, do ANYTHING else?"

"Hey, when I first arrived, wasn't it you who told me that you would do whatever was in your power to help me train for the next League? And we haven't battled in so long; you can't be saying that you're not the least bit interested in how strong we are against each other..?" The grin on his lips was more than enough to numb the defiant half of her brain.

"...Fine." They took off their shoes, just in case the battle got a little extreme, and Ash removed his back pack from his shoulders to leave it at the waters edge. They both turned in different directions and walked over to opposite sides of the field, "Are we agreed that this is a one-on-one battle, no time limit?" Misty called from the other end.

"You know it!" Ash saw Pikachu step forward, his arms pumped and a ready-to-battle expression on his face, "Sorry, Buddy... But I did say that this battle was for training, and I have another Pokemon who needs it more than you do..."

Pikachu looked slightly furious for a moment, before sighing, exasperated, and then backed off and stood beside him like a loyal pet. Ash removed a Pokeball from his waist and pressed the small button that expanded the mass of the capturing device. He looked in Misty's direction just in time to see her doing the same to a Great Ball, the familiar green-blue and white paint glimmering across the arena.

He smirked. There was only one Pokemon that she could be intending to use, if that was the Pokeball she was going to throw...

"Go, Tyrogue!" He shouted.

It seemed strange to Misty that he would call on a ground-type Pokemon. They were strong... And not as weak against water-types as rock... But still...

"Misty calls Gyarados!" Was what was heard from the other end.

The two Pokemon faced each other as they materialized out of nowhere, the two cylinders used being magnetically attracted back to their owners. There was growling and stances were made, but, though there was definite size differences, they seemed to regard each other as their equals, and so there was nothing offensive presented.

"I guess that I'll start this off." Misty stated after replacing the Pokeball at her waist, "Gyarados, use Agility and Whirlpool!" The Pokemon dived swiftly into the water, its body weight making the mat sink precariously below the surface, and shot forward. It's eyes began to glow a bright, neon blue as it got closer to its opponent.

On the other side, Ash was slowly forming a plan (slowly but surely; that's him... Lol.), "Tyrogue, Ice Punch! Block the Whirlpool before it invades your territory!" Ash called, pointing out to the shadow beginning to emerge from underwater; Misty's Gyarados rose from below the shallow depths of the pool, its eyes ablaze and its expression furious.

It roared as the water around it began to slosh around, looking choppy and forming small cyclones that began to grow both in number and in size. They swarmed around Ash's Pokemon, whose eyes were closed as they concentrated on a certain point of deflection.

There was one moment in time that stood completely still, leaving Misty to think she'd actually done it. She might have actually won so soon... And then there was a flash of brilliant light, and a shriek from the smaller Pokemon as it let loose its brutalizing attack, freezing the smooth torrents of water into jagged ice forms.

"Nice one, Ash... But, unfortunately for you, your Tyrogue can't exactly swim. You've just trapped yourself!" It was almost laughable, but Misty wasn't one to act superior in Pokemon battles. Especially when she knew her adversary could handle such situations.

"You think so, Misty?" There was a quirky sort of smirk on his face as he turned back to the battle, "Tyrogue, use Comet Punch on the walls until they shatter!" It seemed at first that his Pokemon hadn't heard him through the inch-or-so of glass liquid barring them from each other's view, but then there came the obvious sounds of solid ice being beaten repeatedly, and the ground shook slightly, and the water that had been left unfrozen, around the ice walls, and to the end of the pool, began rocking back and forth.

The ice cracked. Once... Twice... A long brittle-looking line was forming down the wall, giving the appearance of a decimated earth.

But Misty wasn't going to panic just yet, "Gyarados, use Iron Tail! Beat down that wall, and Tyrogue, before he gets a chance to escape!" With the combined force of the two Pokemon's strengths brutalizing the wall between them, it was soon falling into thousands of pieces.

"Tyrogue, use YOUR Agility! Escape the shards of ice, and Gyarados' attacks!" For Misty's Pokemon had kept going, trying to knock the other Pokemon into the water. And, needless to say, it was doing a pretty good job, as both trainers could tell after another shriek was heard from the smaller creature, and a humongous splash gave the recognition that it had been sent below the waters' surface, "Oh, no... Tyrogue!"

Almost as though the Pokemon had heard its master call out to it, there was a slight sucking noise and a guttural wail as the creature re-emerged from the depths and situated itself on its mat, coughing up excess water and pounding its fist into the marshmallow-soft landing under it.

"All right, Tyrogue! Now, use another Ice Punch; but this time, block Gyarados back into a corner! Make a path and circle around 'em!" Ash rose a fist in assurance of his next plan, betting himself twice over that Misty could have no counter-attack to that.

His Pokemon nodded and began its decent to the waters edge again, its fist and eyes starting to glow an icy blue. As his fist plummeted not-even through the surface, a jagged bridge began to form, right over towards the retreating Gyarados.

Misty growled... And she'd almost had him too!

"Use Agility, Tyrogue! And once you reach him, I want you to use all of your strength and hit Gyarados on every single part of his body you can reach with Comet Punch!"

Following the commands given to it, Tyrogue strode forward and bypassed the wind and waves forming on either side of him, coming down on his opponent hard and fast like a sudden bolt of lightning. He punched once... twice... About eight times before falling back, and dodging Gyarados' tail.

Misty felt a small smile growing on her face at the action showed from her Pokemon. The Comet Punch attack may have been very repetitive, but it definitely wasn't that strong... And her water type's hide was most-likely an advantage over the other.

"Nice try, Ash! But no matter what, you're still fighting in my environment! Gyarados... use Iron Tail to free yourself from the trap of ice!" The creature did so with all of its strength, while Ash's continued to claw and bruise him with his fierce knuckles. Soon Tyrogue was standing merely on a foot wide, thin slab of ice, looking laboriously exhausted and breathing heavily. Gyarados, after bashing so hard, non-stop, for the last five minutes at least, was looking just as bad, "Gyarados... Hyper Beam!" The said Pokemon roared tiredly and opened its mouth, the bright fiery charge of the energy cannon-type of technique showing its physical brutality there.

"Try and dodge it!" Ash tried desperately, but he knew it was no use... After all, there was only the choppy water on either side of him... And if he left the arena area for the safety of dry land, he'd have to forfeit... And there was NO WAY that Ash Ketchem would let himself do that; especially if there was even one chance for an alternative way out.

So the cannon blasted from Gyarados' wide mouth, straight through the very glacier that Tyrogue had been standing on a moment before. Ash had yelled something desperately, but Misty hadn't heard... She knew it was over... She knew that she'd won...

"You've been training him a lot, haven't you?" She heard him that time.

"Just a little bit more each day." She said with an innocent smile, as Gyarados came back towards her, looking tired beyond belief from its last attack, but faithful as she began massaging his hide.

"That's really just too bad, Misty..." Ash was smirking, looking a little unlike himself, but there was still that victorious glow in his eyes, and he seemed to know something she didn't, "...Tyrogue, NOW!"

A spiraling cocoon-shaped whirlwind emerged from the water again, jumping back on the mat just in front of Ash and stopping there. Tyrogue's appearance looked dreary, and almost soulless from the tough battle, yet the will to fight was still in him, and when Ash smiled again at his efforts, he regained his fighting composure.

"What?!" The only thing Misty could think was, _How could this be possible?_ "Give it another shot, Gyarados! Just one more!" She cried desperately, and her Pokemon nodded obligingly, rubbing his tail fin against her thigh before moving out, "This is it, Ash!" He knew she was right. It looked as though one final assault from one of the two Pokemon would do the other in... It was all a matter of time and precision... And luck and skill, now...

"Agility and Fire Punch!"

"Dodge it and use Dragon Rage!"

Neither even saw the attacks come together. There was a clash of bodies, two shrieking gasps of pain, and a humongous splash as both Pokemon fell back into the water. A steam from the Dragon Rage had filled the arena, and so Ash and Misty couldn't see anything.

Both trainers were torn from their worry for their Pokemon, and their constant self-nagging about who had won... Who had been strong enough to beat the other..?

Ash and Misty hadn't noticed that the battle was so intense, they'd both lost their breath while waiting so impatiently for the outcome. But soon the fog had started clearing, and they were standing there watching the quiet water, with its lack of waves.

Both Tyrogue and Gyarados laid floating at the top, snoring peacefully and looking thoroughly beaten, though content. The two teenagers' eyes' widened...

"IT WAS--"

"--A TIE?!" They both groaned at the same time.

There were a couple minutes of ranting and raving, which was interrupted most ungraciously by the telephone ringing. Misty jumped from her Trainers platform onto the arena floor and ran out the door to the lobby where the phone sat behind the main desk.

Ash heard her answering and sighed, smiling afterwards.

That had been one hell of a battle, if he happened to say so himself...

"Ash! It's for you!" Misty called. Ash panicked out of his thoughts (almost slipping and landing face-first in shoulder-deep water, called back his Pokemon and strapped the ball to his belt, and then ran after Misty into the lobby.

When he first saw her, she was looking thoroughly disgruntled about something, but when she shoved the phone receiver into his gut, she didn't say anything.

Ash turned on the vid-screen and saw a young woman staring-well, more like glaring-straight back at him.

"ASH KETCHEM! WHAT THE HECK DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING, GOING TO SPEND THE WEEK WITH MISTY WITHOUT TELLING ME ABOUT IT?! YOU KNOW, I WAITED THREE DAYS FOR YOU TO CALL AND TELL ME WHEN YOU'D BE ARRIVING, OR FOR YOU TO SHOW UP, BUT COULD YOU SPARE THAT COMMON COURTESY?! NO! DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I'VE BEEN?! HOW GRIEF-STRICKEN?!"

Ash tried to reply, "I-I'm sorry, mom, but I forgot--"

"OH, WELL THAT'S JUST FINE, ASH! FORGET YOUR OWN MOTHER, WHY DON'T YOU?! AND I CALLED ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS LOOKING FOR YOU! GARY OAK, BROCK SLATE, THAT MAY AND MAX BEECH, PROFESSOR BIRCH! YOU DIDN'T EVEN HAVE MISTY DOWN IN YOUR LITTLE BLACK BOOK! HOW COULD YOU NOT WRITE YOUR OWN BEST FRIENDS NAME, AND NUMBER, AND ADDRESS DOWN?!"

"I-I didn't really think I'd need her number..." Ash stopped and gulped. He felt a burn on his back that could only have been brought around by Misty's very deep glare. She must have been one AN-GRY "best friend" at that moment in time.

"OH, SO I'M NOT WORTH YOUR TIME OF DAY NOW, UNLESS YOU NEED SOMETHING FROM ME, IS THAT IT?!"

Great, so now he was being yelled at by _TWO _PMSing females...

"N-no! That's not what I m-meant!" Ash was beginning to panic. Something told him that this whole conversation was going to end him up with another bruise, so he quickly turned back to his mom, "Look, I'm sorry that I didn't call you but at least you know that I'm okay now, right?" She didn't answer him, "Well-that's-great. I'm-glad-that-we-agree. See-you-when-I-get-back-to-Pallet-tomorrow! Bye!" And he hung up on her and turned to face the greater of the two problems.

"ASH..." It was a venomous whisper that made his legs quake with fear.

"Misty, I'm sorry that I never wrote your number down... The only reason I didn't was because... Well... I guess that I just couldn't imagine traveling around without you... And so I never thought that it was necessary because I always thought that you'd be right there with me!" He hoped that sweet-talking her, while bowing his head and looking hopelessly adorable and miserable, would do the trick.

"Oh... Ash..." The very touched tone now heard from her, and the feeling of emanating affection pouring so profusely from her in vibes, proved that he'd been right, "I'm so sorry! I never knew that you felt that way!" And, with that said, she took fate into her own hands and hugged him to her tightly (A/N: Or "glomped" him... which ever suites you...), making him turn a most interesting shade of scarlet.

"MWAH! HUGG-ING... NO HUGGING!" But his attempts to pry her off of him were pointless.

For she was as attached to him as a Snorlax was to its 1,000 pounds of food per awakening...

...And she always would be.

---**Post-Author's Notes:** Lol! Thank you, thank you! It ended with a little humor, a little adventure, and a little fluffiness! I hope that that was enough for you AAMR fans who probably wanted to kill me before. I hope that this changes your mind.

Now! Two things!

1.) Should I bother with writing a sequel, or is this fic how-you-say "as good as it gets"? (If I do make a sequel, I'll probably feature a flashback to the goodbye's they'd have stated to one another at the end of this fic, and Ash's visit.)

2.) REVIEW!

I think I've rested all cases... :)


End file.
